Sporadic commentary on the telecoms and IT market in Latvia and the Baltic States.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

The half-mothers agree to seek a price (Video)

TeliaSonera and the Latvian government have agreed to an appraisal of Latvian Mobile Telephone (LMT) and Lattelecom by two independent appraisers, Carnegie, the Swedish investment bank (for TeliaSonera) and Ernst & Young for the Latvian government. This is what TeliaSonera senior vice-president Kenneth Karlberg had to say:

After this interview was recorded, it was learned that several other applications to privatize LMT had been made, something which could complicate the situation.It is expected, barring further complications, that the appraisal reports will be presented just after the October 7 elections in Latvia. The entire transaction - most likely a swap of Lattelecom shares plus some cash for the state's 28 % holding in LMT – could be completed within a year.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Once again - state directly owns 5% of LMT and 23% is owned by state owned company - which is not exactly state owned... If your child owns a Teddy Bear (well, you bought it, of course), is it Yours? A little drastic example, but legally owner can be only one...

Hmmm.... Lattelekom (23%) is state-owned (well 51% of the shares) , the state (5%) is the state and TeliaSonera (24,5%) as well as Sonera holding (24,5%) speak for themselves. But VAS? Well, it sure smells state all the way but let's take a look:

Summary: 5% + 23% + 23% = 51% = majority. So again who is the "one"? I guess it is the state since they control both Lattelekom and VAS and through that how these two will vote at LMT board and shareholder meetings... And isn't it this last little-bit-more-than-a-percent (51%) the whole circus is about?